The “witch hunt” in question represented Holland’s activist response to a study that showed the city’s Fire Department to be a hotbed of shift trading.

KCK firefighters typically work a 24-hour shift every three days. If a firefighter trades a shift without working a reciprocal shift, all kinds of problems emerge.

The most obvious is how does he reward the person who assumed his shift given that the city is paying the original firefighter. Not surprisingly, a payroll analysis by the unified government found what outgoing Mayor Mark Holland called “a whole black market of shifts being taken under the table.”

The most notorious of the shift traders is Wing’s father, KCK Fire Captain Bob Wing. According to Holland, Bob Wing was “the top abuser” of the shift-trading practice. In 2017, he reportedly paid others to work all of his shifts. The senior Wing also serves as the business manager for IAFF No. 64, which job Wing used as a justification for his trades.

Understandably, Holland interpreted Chris Wing’s comment as a threat, which he promptly reported to the KCKPD and the Kansas Bureau of Investigation.

Although his term as mayor is coming to an end within days–the KCKFD was instrumental in denying him re-election–Holland shows no sign of backing down.

“The threat Chris Wing made is intolerable,” said Holland. “It is an example of the hostile mentality that pervades our Fire Union leadership.”

Holland continued, “For years that leadership has controlled our Fire Department operations, yielding its power through a well-funded political machine that few politicians in this community have been willing to confront.”

For all of Holland’s passion, one suspects that come January 8, it will be back to business as usual in the UG.

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